Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe

The Right Honourable The Viscount Radcliffe
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office 1949–1964
Personal details
Born	30 March 1899 Llanychan, Denbighshire, Wales
Died	1 April 1977
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Hon. Antonia Mary Roby Benson
Alma mater	University of Oxford

Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe GBE PC QC (30 March 1899 – 1 April 1977) was a British lawyer and Law Lord best known for his role in the partition of British India. He served as the inaugural Chancellor of the University of Warwick from its foundation in 1965 to 1977.

Radcliffe was born in Llanychan, Denbighshire, Wales. He was conscripted in World War I but his poor eyesight limited the options for service so he was allocated to the Labour Corps. He attended Oxford University, was elected to a Fellowship at All Souls College, and was called to the bar. His meteoric legal rise that followed was interrupted by World War II. Radcliffe joined the Ministry of Information becoming its Director-General by 1941, where he worked closely with the Minister Brendan Bracken. In 1944 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).

Radcliffe was given the chairmanship of the two boundary committees set up with the passing of the Indian Independence Act. He was faced with the daunting task of drawing the borders for the new nations of Pakistan and India in a way that would leave as many Hindus and Sikhs in India and Muslims in Pakistan as possible. Radcliffe submitted his partition map on 9 August 1947, which split Punjab and Bengal almost in half. The new boundaries were formally announced on 14 August 1947—the day of Pakistan's independence and the day before India became independent.

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